QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Twenty coal miners were shot dead in an overnight attack by a group of heavily armed men who laid siege to their lodgings in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said Friday.

Up to 40 attackers fired at the miners for half an hour starting around 12:30 am (1930 GMT Thursday) "before escaping into the night", said Asim Shafi, the head of police in Duki district where the attack took place.

"They had rocket launchers and hand grenades with them."

A senior government official in the district, Kaleemullah Kakar, also confirmed the death toll.

Separatist militant groups in Balochistan regularly target natural resource extraction projects dotted across the mineral-rich province, the poorest in Pakistan.

Many of the schemes are financed and operated by foreign countries -- most notably neighbouring China -- which the armed factions accuse of hoarding wealth.